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The Ubuntu ShipIt Program. If you’re not familiar with it, you’ve probably never typed in “free Ubuntu CD” on Google or any other search engine. ShipIt is the Ubuntu service that gives away free Ubuntu installation CDs in an effort to make sure people have few restrictions obtaining Ubuntu. ShipIt has been a huge success shipping millions of free Ubuntu CDs over the past few years. The CDs are not free for Canonical, the company backing Ubuntu and the ShipIt program. This has caused Ubuntu to deploy some interesting techniques designed to cut the cost or need or the Free Ubuntu installation CDs.

Limiting Free Ubuntu CDs for people who:
-Can upgrade to the new release without a CD
-Can download their own CD for free
Ubuntu users can also:
-Download the CD wallet artwork
-Become an Ubuntu member by contributing to Ubuntu, making them eligible for more CDs
-Purchase CDs

Today brought the release of Greenie Linux 5.1J. Yet another Ubuntu-based Linux desktop, the Greenie Linux distribution is aimed at Slovak users. I was able to reach English by pressing f2 from the boot menu.

Pros
After running the Greenie 5.1j release as a live CD I installed it fairly quickly and examined the default desktop. As you’ll see in the screenshot gallery, Greenie Linux comes with a great looking desktop and GNOME interface. I also found the screenlets feature installed by default to be of use. This allows me to view a desktop icon that tells me my inbox status instead of going through the browser all the time. This is one of many conveniences I found in Greenie screenlets.

Cons
The Greenie Linux website isn’t supporting English anymore which is disappointing to me. This means support is a question mark and that is probably the main reason Greenie Linux won’t be a primary distro for me. A smaller detail I didn’t like was Ubuntu mentions in the installer and other places in the distribution. I think establishing your own identity is key for upcoming distros. Some users are annoyed with the many Ubuntu branches causing for even more reason to get this out of there.

Overall
I’d use it more if it had English support. It is usable and worked great for me but somehow I felt disconnected without others to talk to, articles to read, etc. The website not having English support was the deal-breaker for me. This one was a little too far out there for me but may be good for the user base that it was created for.